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TAGnotes Mon 17 Dec 2001 Vol 3 Number 118 Issue 379

The Auction Guild Notes for Mon 17 Dec 2001
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$Buck98 event ends 18 Dec! $1.98 No Reserve Auctions GREAT
BARGAINS and great gifts http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/$buck98/
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
For quality, variety & great deals, shop the experienced auction
sellers of the EMPORIUM http://www.lynnet.com/~jmm/emporium.html
     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
1960s Firefighters Helmet , Autographed 'Producers' Playbill
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     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
LongLocks HairSticks Boutique Exquisite Vintage Crystal Hair Sticks &
Accessories
Free Priority Shipping for All Orders Until December 21!
http://www.longlocks.com
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Support the people who support TAGnotes. Click on their links, bid on
their auctions and buy their products. You too can participate in a Win
Win solution. Support TAG and promote your website or auctions. Seller
group ads also available. Subscribers Ads $5.00 - Commercial rates
available, email ta-@theauctionguild.com for details.
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The TAGnotes archive is available in a searchable format at     
http://www.escribe.com/business/TAGnotes/
Interested in more information about TAG? Go to our website at
http://www.auctionguild.com You can find contact info for several sites
and services there, along with editorials and other information.
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**** WARNING GALLERY NOT WORKING CONSISTENTLY****
Intermittent availability of gallery images continues. Sellers are
warned that if they use the ebaY Gallery, for which they pay extra, that
it has been functioning very intermittently for several weeks. TAG
recommends that if you do not like paying for a feature that does not
work consistently, do not use Gallery until ebaY fixes the reoccurring
problems.

TAG has been receiving reports from users that if you use checkout to
specify shipping details, when you relist and do not opt to offer ebaY
Billpoint payments, you can't complete the relist, as it won't go
through. Accept Billpoint and the relist goes through without a problem.
Another reason to close your ebaY Billpoint account and not use
Checkout. We have also had several reports about the ongoing Billpoint
chargebacks. In one case ebaY Billpoint provided the address to the
seller, the seller shipped, the item was signed for, but the name used
to sign for the package was not that of the buyer. ebaY allowed the
chargeback. So unless you are willing to deliver your packages in
person and get photo ID, you really should not use Billpoint. This is a
level of proof beyond the reasonable, and possibly grounds for a
lawsuit.

On 11Dec users reported the ebaY revise code was broken. This problem
continued throughout the day. At 09:02:42 PT ebaY posted that Gallery
images were not appearing consistently in ebaY Motors.   At 16:37:35 PT
users reported the change email address feature was not working. ebaY
posted at 17:58:46 PT that they had fixed the problem with gallery
images on ebaY Motors. Users continued to post problems with list,
relist and revise, sign in and cookies.

On 13 Dec at 16:46:22 PT users reported that Mister Lister was down.
The serious ongoing problems with sign in/cookies, listing, relisting
and revision, incompatibility with MSIE, Netscape, AOL, and at times all
browsers, difficulties with search, both for lack of ease of use and the
limit of 10 days on completed auctions all continued apace. Some
sellers were finding that where they had opted out of Checkout, Checkout
was not showing up on the ended auctions. Other sellers reported that
though they had changed the setting on My ebaY to opt OUT of Checkout,
their options mysteriously changed back. Other sellers reported zeros
showing up on their auctions in the shipping info blocks on relist, even
though shipping info was included in the auction. Both buyers and
sellers reported that when they used Checkout to send messages to
complete an auction, neither party received the communications. ebaY
took the system down for maintenance at approx 0100 PT.

On 14 Dec, ebaY returned to service from maintenance at approx 0330 PT.
Billpoint was also down for maintenance during this time. At 18:29:44
PT users reported that auctions were not opening intermittently from
cgi6 seller pages. Overall, the site has been running fairly smoothly
though slowly, this week, but without any mitigation of the ongoing
reoccurring problems with list, relist and revise, sign in, cookies etc.


TO REQUEST REFUNDS from ebaY go to
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=33
Don't take NO for an answer; keep requesting until you get them.
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=17
If you don't get your refunds complain to the BBB Online at
http://www.bbbsilicon.org/index.htm
And also file a complaint with the FTC
https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm

ebaY Chief Operating Officer Brian Swette is leaving ebaY. Throughout
his tenure with ebaY it appears he has sold his stock as soon as he was
allowed to do so, and it appears he now has a sufficient amount. His
stock sales in the last 12 months alone amounts to approx $67,000,000.00
(yes that is in millions).
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20011217/tc/ebay_s_coo_steps_down_1.html

In violation of every promise made by ebaY that they will NEVER place
banner ads or any advertising on the sellers PAID advertising space,
ebaY is now running banner ads for ebaY products on the sellers auction
item pages on ebaY UK.

ebaY is avoiding implementing coding to work with Microsoft P3P privacy
protection. Some companies don't like to have clearly written privacy
rules because it draws attention to the data collection and use
practices that users might object to. TAG feels ebaY falls firmly into
this category. This might be shortsighted on ebaY's part because if
consumers had more confidence in their privacy Forrester Research
estimates that North American consumers would spend $12 billion more
annually on Web purchases if privacy wasn't a concern. 8 Dec article
can be found at -
http://www.osopinion.com/perl/story/15073.html
Check the article links at the bottom of the story - valuable reading

To increase ebaY's market share in the Singapore market, ebaY is looking
to buy Singapore online auction site SurfingBananas.com,
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/newsbursts/0,7407,2832388,00.html?chkpt=p1bn


ebaY solicited stories from their users due to them 17 Dec. at
myebay-@ebay.com This first solicitation is for possible inclusion
in the upcoming pilot for a television show about ebaY.

ebaY is promoting "Buy It Now, Get It Fast" over the next week. ebaY
alleges that this marketing will encourage bidders to use Buy It Now to
buy last-minute holiday gifts from ebaY sellers.   ebaY is encouraging
sellers to offer expedited shipping so that buyers can receive their
items faster.
http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/buyitnow.html

Since their implementation of Personal Offer (PO) in August, ebaY has
slightly modified it so that sellers are now able to use PO immediately
after a listing ends, and can also use the relist function even after a
Personal Offer has been made. Since ebaY is making the PO available
immediately after a listing ends, sellers may also send an offer for a
duplicate item to an under bidder. There is no extra listing fee charged
for this. PO is available in all categories except Real Estate, Live
Auctions and Premier. PO is available in select Motor Vehicle
categories, even when there is no winning bidder, in the case of Reserve
Not Met listings. As should be obvious, this feature is not designed for
sellers in the antiques and collectibles markets, which tend to be
unique items, not mass available items.
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sellerguide/faq-personaloffer.html

ebaY is changing the Computers: Apple, Macintosh category. To preview go
to http://pages.ebay.com/preview/chg-apple.html
Send comments and suggestions to comp-@ebay.com.

Interesting overview article about ebaY at
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2001/12/16/BU63702.DTL

Don't like search? Join the Search Protest thread on ebaY to change
search. The thread has over 1240 posts with feedback totals in the
hundreds of hundreds of thousands.
http://forums.ebay.com/dws?14@146.9SRVab8ZiV6^-@.eee35ba/0

The anti Checkout thread continues currently has 4061 posts
To add your comments go to -
http://forums.ebay.com/dws?50@8.CcKSabMyAmm^-@.eed7f8f
Anti and No Checkout logos are available on the TAG site at -
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=58
For those still getting the Checkout logo on their auctions, TAG has a
Checkout disable script you can add to your auction description on the
website at -
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=73
Make sure you keep an eye on your Checkout options, as ebaY has a
tendency to change your "opt out" selection to "opt in", despite your
wishes.

Is Checkout interfering with your online business? Is the new search
slowing down your sales? Tired of the scam Chargebacks form Billpoint?
You pay ebaY for services, so file a complaint against ebaY with the
Better Business Bureau, the FTC and or The Consumer Trouble Shooter.
http://www.troubleshooter.com/data/access.html
BBB Online - http://www.bbbsilicon.org
FTC - https://www.ftc.gov/ftc/complaint.htm

Since ebaY is no longer fully compatible with Microsoft IE, TAG
recommends you have IE, Netscape AND the Opera browsers on your
computer, so you can alternate between them as required. Better yet use
another auction site, where the depth of problems you find on ebaY does
not exist. Opera can be found at http://www.opera.com For WebTV users,
some users have had some limited success by unplugging their WebTV unit
after each ebaY session for sufficient time to let the unit.

ebaY continues to change their categories. To comment and /or provide
input go to http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=
SendSupportEmailShow&subject=Suggestion+--+Category+Suggestions
-HOME & GARDEN
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/list/all/category11700/overview.html#_top

added categories for Air Tools
-MUSIC
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/list/all/category11233/overview.html#_top

Added 45s categories, and accessory categories.
-SPORTING GOODS
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/list/all/category888/overview.html#_top

Expanded Bicycles, Apparel and Parts & Accessories categories.
Additional Decoys, Game Calls, Gun Cases, Gun Cleaning Supplies,
Taxidermy and Holsters sections. Expanded categories for Surfers,
softball players, and tennis buffs
-TOYS
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/list/all/category220/overview.html#_top

Expanded Harry Potter category to include Games, Trading Cards, Figures,
Plush, and Play sets.

To move an item to another category go to -
http://cgi5.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ChangeCategoryShow
ebaY categories with the category number
http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/list/categories.html
An off ebaY category number locator page
http://www.kinem.com/files/cat.htm

ebaY partner AOL recently responded to ongoing problems with the FTP
space they provide to their users. They acknowledged the problems were
due to due to AOL system difficulties and that AOL is currently making
adjustments to the service and they do not know when the problems will
be fixed. Those using AOL to host their auction images might want to
consider another hosting service (see Photopoint posting below for list
of services) until AOL fixes their service.

ebaY CONTACT for ebaY, Billpoint, Half.Com, information including
analog mail and email addresses, phone numbers, regular and toll free,
refund info, close account info, and insider trading info etc can be
found at
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=17

ebaY Community boards
http://pages.ebay.com/community/index.html
ebaY news board
http://pages.ebay.com/community/news/index.html
ebaY status announcement board (SAB)
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml
* * * * *
Amazon Auctions, zShops and Marketplace
http://www.amazon.com

Amazon Announcement Board
http://prospero.amazon.com/n/mb/listsf.asp?webtag=am-sellannounce&nav=start&ctx=0


Amazon chat boards -
http://prospero.amazon.com/n/mb/listsf.asp?webtag=am-sellconnect&nav=start&ctx=0


Amazon live telephone customer service 16 hours a day
Toll-free in U.S. and Canada: (800)201-7575
Auction Pro phone number 1-877-251-0696
http://auctions.amazon.com
* * * * *
TAG has received several reports of folks having problems with
registering on Yahoo Auctions and with changing their ID or email
address. Unfortunately there is little more that users can do but
fumble around Yahoo looking for answers, as their help boards are
insufficient, their customer service non existent, and their user to
user help boards inadequate. Users can attempt to seek user to user
help at -
http://experts.yahoo.com/expertinbox?b_id=383051397&t_id=openboard
and community chat boards at
http://auctions.yahoo.com/html/community/
Live chat
http://chat.yahoo.com/?room=Chat%20Central::1600326456

Yahoo Auctions and Google search - since their agreement on 10 Jul 2000,
Yahoo has been using Google's search as their default web engine. Yahoo
Auctions is now working with their Google partner to improve the search,
so that when a person goes to Google to search for an item they are
interested in, either a specific auction or the specific auction and
shopping category will come up from the Yahoo Auction and Shopping
areas.   The benefit of this to individual sellers and Yahoo Auctions as
a whole is immense. Google is one of the most used search engines on
the net, and having someone involved in some field of interest pulling
up a result that shows that there are related items to be purchased, and
those items are available at auction, can be THE competitive edge
sellers are looking for. This can potentially draw in buyers who
otherwise would not have even thought about online auctions, or even
know that items were available in their area of interest. Unlike the
ebaY effort to attract customers through a multi million dollar
newspaper flier, when ebaY knows that "there are people who read
newspapers but may not use the Internet," (Kevin Pursglove in a "The
Street" article), this targets people who have access to and USE the
internet, but may not be part of the auction buying public. This
improved Google search is still a project in process, but Yahoo plans to
continue to work with Google to bring new buyers to Yahoo sellers.

As another holiday thank you from Yahoo for selling and buying on Yahoo!
Auctions in 2001 they are giving away a Yahoo! Auctions Baseball Cap.
Yahoo has a limited number of caps to give away -- if you are
interested, email them at auctions-p-@yahoo-inc.com with your
mailing address, and they will send them on a first-come, first-served
basis. One hat per mailing address.

In another interesting discovery TAG made about Yahoo while looking at
another issue, we have found that unlike ebaY, Yahoo does not practice
total control over their boards, and only monitors them for issues of
profanity, abuse of other users, or threats to other users, which they
don't allow. ebaY monitors boards, removes posts that mention other
sites, and keeps extensive files on users, of which much of the
information is harvested from their threaded and scrolling boards. ebaY
also does not allow wholesale criticism of their site, and those who do
criticize often find their auctions scrutinized by ebaY and gone over
with a fine tooth comb and ended for even the most minor violations.
Yahoo has a privacy policy whereby they do not even cross reference the
posters on their boards and their selling IDs, though Yahoo is much more
closely integrated that ebaY. They do not keep files on their sellers
and buyers tied to their chat boards. TAG was surprised to find that
Yahoo could not just go to their Yahoo chat boards and harvest user ID's
to contact the posters via email or snail mail - that would be a
violation of the Yahoo privacy policy. TAG thinks this contrast with
ebaY is another factor users should consider, as we see the Yahoo policy
as the ethical one, and the ebaY policy as sleazy.

Remember Yahoo allows links from auctions, and has a MUCH more liberal
and less paranoid point of view on off Yahoo sales. Yahoo's policy can
be found at -
http://auctions.yahoo.com/phtml/auc/us/legal/linking_policy.html

On 21 Nov Yahoo announced changes to their buyer protection plan
http://auctions.yahoo.com/phtml/auc/us/ins/protectionpromo.html
Yahoo is trying to discourage Western Union and other wire transfers to
a post office box or to any international location as much of the online
fraud occurs that way. This means that Yahoo is currently not insuring
any payments under their buyer protection plan made to a PO Box in the
US or out.

Yahoo Auctions has user to user help boards at
http://experts.yahoo.com/expertinbox?b_id=383051397&t_id=openboard
and community chat boards at
http://auctions.yahoo.com/html/community/
Live chat
http://chat.yahoo.com/?room=Chat%20Central::1600326456

As of 24 Nov 01 Yahoo Auctions had 274,047 listings on the site.
As of 5 Dec 01 Yahoo Auctions had 399,258 listings on their site
As of 7 Dec01 Auctions had 504,507 listings on their site
http://auctions.yahoo.com/
* * * * *
Photopoint.com has once again disappeared from the net, and once again
there is no post telling users what is going on. TAG has emailed and
called Photopoint for information, and we will keep our subscribers
posted. Since we have had no response we recommend anyone who has paid
for the service to contact their charge card company and chargeback
their fees. If you need to replace your image hosting immediately,
there are free or low fee image hosting sites available. Usually the
best place to get free space is to use your own ISP, as most ISPs
provide free space for their users. You can use an upload utility such
as Ipswitch Ws_FTP or Cute FTP - or for the MAC - Fetch. Or use one of
these services -
http://www.auctionimage.com    -WebTV friendly
http://www.auctionpix.co.uk/free.html
http://www.auctionpix.com/
http://www.auctiontalk.com/imagehosting.asp
http://www.baypal.com/ - WebTV friendly
http://www.boomspeed.com
http://deadzoom.com/
http://www.freepichosting.com/
http://www.imagehost.com
http://www.netfirms.com
http://PennyThings.com/   -WebTV friendly
http://www.pichost.com
http://www.prosperpoint.com
http://www.storagepoint.com
http://www.tupics.com

Please check all the sites rules and fees before you transfer large
amounts of images. We can’t keep up with changes and would appreciate
updates from our subscribers.

We have updated the Photopoint thread on the TAG site at -
http://www.auctionguild.com/generic.html?pid=62
* * * * *
Online Auction Users Association
http://www.auctionusers.org
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PLEASE NOTE: Many long links we post in TAGnotes must be
copy/pasted into your browsers URL/Address box in pieces, with no extra
spaces, to get them to work due to HTML limitations
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Have any information for us? email us at ta-@theauctionguild.com
TAG Subscribers often contribute information reported on in TAGnotes.   
Visit their auctions or websites.
TAGassist Contributors

http://www.longlocks.com

http://www.bllamb.com

http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/twheid/

http://www.marknliz.com
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